Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held bilateral talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur. Several MoUs were exchanged during talks, as both leader pushed to strengthen cultural, economic and strategic ties.
Focus on Tamil language
In a joint press statement alongside Anwar Ibrahim, PM Modi highlighted the presence of Tamil on a wider level in Malaysian education, media and cultural life, which reflects a strong people-to-people ties between both the countries.
PM Modi said, “Shared love for the Tamil language connects India and Malaysia. The strong and vibrant presence of the Tamil language in Malaysia is clearly visible in education, media, and cultural life. I am confident that with today’s audio-visual agreement, films and music, especially Tamil films, will bring our hearts closer.”
He underscored the strong cultural and educational links between the two countries, making special reference to the presence of the Tamil language in Malaysia. He noted that the audiovisual agreement signed today will encourage greater exchange in films and music, with particular emphasis on Tamil cinema.
Major focus on maritime security, intelligence sharing and defence
After delegation-level talks, PM Modi said the two countries will strengthen security sector jointly.
PM Modi said, “In the security sector, we will strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing and maritime security. We will also make defence cooperation more comprehensive.”
In addition, he said the partnership will further strengthen in emerging and critical areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, healthcare, and food security.
He also noted that bilateral collaboration is steadily expanding in energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, and the digital economy.
No double standard on terrorism
PM Modi firmly said that India’s position on terrorism is unequivocal, allowing no room for double standards or compromise, saying both the countries will jointly work against terrorism.
“Our message on terrorism is very clear, no double standards, no compromise,” PM Modi said, underlining the countries’ commitment to counter-terrorism cooperation.
Six MoUs, four key documents exchanged
The two sides exchanged six memorandum of understanding, covering a wide range of sectors. This includes, Audio-visual co-production, Disaster management cooperation
,Combating corruption, United Nations peacekeeping, Semiconductor cooperation. The two leaders also witnessed the exchange of notes and documents between India and Malaysia, comprising, a memorandum on social security for Indian citizens in Malaysia, cooperation on vocational training and education, exchange of notes on security cooperation, and exchange of notes on healthcare cooperation.
Officials said that the agreements are intended to strengthen cooperation in emerging technologies, governance, public welfare, and regional security.
Education, currency and trade in agenda
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim lauded India’s economic growth and highlighted the importance of widening cooperation more than existing trade level.
He said, “”India is growing by leaps and bounds, which is one spectacular rise in the international economic trade scene and therefore Malaysia in the ASEAN context certainly benefits immensely if we could secure more ways and opportunities to collaborate with India to extending beyond the $18.59 billion that we achieved in 2025.”
Anwar also welcomed the move to use local currencies to the greatest extent possible in bilateral transactions, describing it as a “remarkable achievement.”
“Under the premiership of my good friend Prime Minister Modi, you have seen spectacular recognition of Indian centres of excellence in education. We would certainly explore increasing the number of students in various disciplines to study in India,” Anwar said.
Meanwhile, PM Modi also referred to several youth-focused initiatives, such as university exchange programs, skill development efforts, and support for startups.
PM Modi receives ‘Guard of Honour’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received formal welcome and accorded with Guard of Honour upon his arrival in Malaysia.
Initially, PM Modi and Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim held a private bilateral meeting and later delegation-level talks held between the two countries on Sunday.
PM Modi also highlighted that the India and Malaysia share a special bond as maritime neighbours and the two countries have strong people-to-people links and the presence of the Indian diaspora in Malaysia.
PM Modi also said that India is committed to ASEAN centrality and extended congratulation to Malaysia on its chairmanship of ASEAN.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
